To stop cold callers or junk mail, contact the Telephone Preference Service on 0345 070 0707 and the Mail Preference Service on 0345 703 4599.
The Telephone Preference Service is free and helps you make sure your phone number is no longer available to organisations – including charities and voluntary groups – who may phone you with unwanted offers and information.
The Mail Preference Service is also free and stops the vast majority of nuisance mail. Once activated, it becomes fully effective within two to four months.
Cold calling is not illegal, but anyone who does call out of the blue and offers to sell you goods or services that cost more than £35 is required to provide you with a written notice, giving you seven days in which to cancel.
If this notice isn't provided, the contract for the goods or services won't be enforceable, which means you won't have to pay – even if the goods have been provided or the work has been carried out.
Anyone who fails to give this notice will also be committing a criminal offence, which Trading Standards will investigate.
